Crashed out against Bradford in the Cup last night and its looking like an 8th year without a trophy, could the end be coming for Wenger? Plays an understrength side in the champions league last week, ended up getting beat which left them second in the group and now they come up against the big boys in the draw and played a full strength side in the cup last night, a cup the big names don't give two hoots about and go out. Is the end coming for Wenger? Is it time for him to move to a role upstairs at Arsenal and bring in a new manager? I have to say Klopp at Dortmund would be the perfect fit, also if the club want to be ambitious and want to get back up there winning titles and trophies there is a certain Mr Mourinho leaving Madrid at the end of the season.
They haven't got the finances to compete for the league. They are just afraid of admitting it to their fans and that is why Wenger is probably not in danger. Publicly they spin out the line "the money is there" and Wenger takes the weight of it by declaring he won't waste money. However it seems blatantly obvious to me they are working to pay off these stadium debts as quickly as possible. Those debts are massive. Man U generate insane amounts of money, Man C and Chelsea have insane benefactors without a care about money, Arsenal have neither. Their challenge is to qualify for the CL every season. He normally does that and will be close again. The mistake Wenger has made is this is the first year in ages they have gone for the league cup. They have to try harder in the cups because that is their only realistic chance of a trophy. Last night can happen to any club but the timing could not have been worse. I think behind the scenes though, those directors are over the moon with the money they are generating against massive debts despite selling ridiculous amounts of talent.
Erm, what WP said, since I can't think of anything better to say on the matter. I hold Wenger in exceptionally high regard for doing what he's done with his budget restrictions, compared to the likes of Man U, Citeh & Chelski. Try going 40 years without a trophy, gooners...
Is money the case though? they have a russain billionaire shareholder called Usmanov who has spoken about in the past he is willing to invest the cash and the club must invest the cash but the major shareholders seem as though they want to run it as a business making money rather than getting them back to the top
Usmanov has hinted at being interested in investing large sums of money. That ended though when he lost the power battle to Stan Kronke (he bought out Danny Firzman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith to own 60% odd). Usmanov and Kronke wanted the shares, Kronke won, leaving Usmanov with about 25% (maybe a bit more). I have no doubt Usmanov wanted to be another Roman but for whatever reason the power holders were unwilling to sell to him. Only they know why. Usmanov refuses to sell his share to Kronke. While this little political battle continues I suspect the large scale investment while ignoring the debts will not materialise. So Wenger will continue to work on a restricted budget in comparison to the other big clubs. Its like a mini cold war I doubt Kronke would get rid of Wenger as he needs his expertise until he can wait Usmanov out. I don't know why Usmanov doesn't just buy out Ashley, we'd welcome him and his 18 billion
I stand corrected, Arsenal did spend big with Cazorla - 16.7m, Podolski - 10.6m, Giroud - 10.5m. Total spend - 37.8m With the sales of Song, Van Persie, Vela and others. Income generated - 49.7m 11.9m profit made during this summer.
Wenger should walk at the end of the season. 8 years without a trophy is a disgraceful for a club like Arsenal. They are continually going backwards too and id be surprised if they finish top 4
Players are to blame, doesn't matter what his tactics were, if the team that Wenger put out couldn't beat a league 2 side then the players need to take a look at themselves
That is just daft. How can it be Wengers fault? If you don't have the money, you can't compete with Chelsea, Citeh and Man U. They've actually been incredibly consistent in the last 8 years if you look at their finishing position and points totals. The media like to paint a different picture of regression but the league table never lies. They are struggling this season because the lack of investment has caught up, he can't keep pulling rabbits out of the hat. When you consider that they've been forced to sell their best players through being unable to bridge the gap with Chelsea and Man U financially to challenge for honours, match wages and having to make a profit to pay off their stadium, you have to think they'd be mental to sack Wenger. If he walks they'll fold like a pack of cards! I don't think he would do that to them, he loves the club too much. Just to note he has sacrifced the league cup to stay in CL, that has proved correct. The FA Cup has been won by Chelsea 4 times, Man C once, Liverpool once and Portsmouth once in the last 7 years. The big clubs target this.
Nonsense, Wenger said himself only last week that the money is there but he won't spend it because Its not the way he does things. Stubborness. Players are leaving not because of money but because they want a realistic chance of winning things.
Spot on BallBAG> Also quite clearly the players need to take a look at themselves. There's quite a lot of these overpaid buggers for all teams not earning their wages.
They always say money is there. Ashley always says money is there. Neither spend any money and make a profit every transfer window. Who is going to put up the money given the power struggle going on? Certainly not Kronke or Usmanov. Who is going sanction release of club funds outside of those raised by transfers? Certainly not Usmanov or Kronke. Its not stubborness, Wenger has shown himself to be willing to spend previously. He is just being cute and trying to stop the turmoil spilling over from boardroom to playing staff. There is no way he would handicap the team. Do you honestly think if Kronke/Usmanov said "here's 50m of my own money" he'd say no? It can't come from club funds for the simple reason they have a stadium to pay off. Its far too much of a coincidence that since the stadium was built and this power struggle started that they've had to sell to buy. I don't disagree about why players leave. They're not daft they can see what is going on, he has to sell to buy. You can't keep pace doing that, it is impossible.
hows your mother couchy still saying shes dead if your loosing an argument, oh and thanks for the neg rep lovely
She's good Rog, looking forward to Chrimbo I think. She's a party person. You still telling people you've ****ed their mother and sister when you get behind in the verbal jousting? No bother on the rep fella I thought you'd appreciate it given your new found love of our brothel. Not a big fan of it myself but like the lads/lasses on our board I will include you in my random rep sessions. Hows your plastic parachute?
We have the money, Wenger refuses to spend it. The stadium debt is almost paid off, so that's no excuse.
same as your plastic mag, makes a change to see you talking sense instead of wumming, whats up , broke it off with your boyfriend 5-1
thanks for the heads up mate thats the thoughts of Chairman Couch well and truly blown out of the water, Preferred Parker' s version anyway
